


Regarding Paternity and Pregnancy Tests

by sarahxxxlovey



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Jancy, One Shot, Post-Canon, Pregnancy Scares, Pregnancy Test, i love them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-20
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-07 07:58:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13430367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahxxxlovey/pseuds/sarahxxxlovey
Summary: Nancy hasn't been feeling well and Jonathan has a suggestion. Post ST2.





	Regarding Paternity and Pregnancy Tests

“I feel awful,” Nancy complained, lying on Jonathan’s bed on her side and holding his pillow to her chest. It was the third day in a row that she’d felt horrendous after waking up.

He laughed sympathetically and continued to fold his laundry. “Do you need some medicine?”

“No, I just feel awful.” She could feel the bratty tone seeping into her voice.

“What kind of awful?”

“Like… like I want to throw up and like my head hurts and… this might be TMI but my boobs hurt. And I just feel like I’m going to throw up any second.”

His body stilled in the middle of folding a pair of his worn jeans and his head raised slowly to look at her.

“Do you think… do you think you’re pregnant?”

Her head snapped up to meet his gaze.

“Fuck.”

* * *

They drove one town over to buy a pregnancy test. The last thing that either of them needed was any of their parents hearing through the grapevine that their teenagers were seen buying a pregnancy test. Joyce would freak out about them having sex and probably ask how it was and Nancy didn’t even want to think about what her parents would do.

Jonathan drove, his beat-up car whining and whistling down the highway. Nancy prayed that the car made it in one piece and felt slight relief when he pulled into the parking lot of a drug store chain that they had in Hawkins too.

He put the car in park and pulled the key out of the ignition, their eyes meeting before they wordlessly went inside and found the section they were looking for.

“Should I take it here?” she whispered hastily, tapping the box against the palm of her hand.

“Where else would you take it?”

“I don’t know, home?”

“And do what exactly with it afterwards?”

“Good point. I’ll take it here.”

They walk to the counter and she feels about twenty times more awkward than she did when they had to ask for double beds in the hotel room. The cashier said the total and she went to pull her wallet out of her pocket. Jonathan waved her off and pushed his body in front of hers slightly, pulling a twenty-dollar bill out of his jacket.

“I got it,” he said quickly, blushing slightly, handing the money to the worker and taking his change quickly, handing Nancy the box and gesturing to the bathroom. She was glad for the chuckle that his typical behavior elicited.

Walking quickly to the bathroom at the back of the store, she wondered what they would realistically do if this test were to come up positive. She looked down at her feet and tried to imagine a jutting stomach blocking her view of her toes. She definitely didn’t want to be a mother at eighteen.

She sat down and in that moment, realized that there was no way she was going to be able to pee on this particular little stick.

* * *

She took another big gulp of Coke as she sat next to him in the front seat, waiting for nature’s call to urge her back to the bathroom.

“Nance?” Jonathan said quickly, turning sideways to look at her.

“If this test… if it’s positive, I just want you to know that I’m not going anywhere,” he said. He looked down at her hand and took it in his, intertwining their fingers.

She looked at their hands and wondered why she thought he would leave.

“You aren’t Lonnie, Jonathan,” she replied softly, the empty can of coke at her feet.

“I know I’m not.” The tips of his ears blush. “I just wanted you to know.”

She grinned and leaned forward to kiss him. He ended it quickly, a peck to the lips was all she could get before his eyes slid to the Coke can again.

“Go try again.” She couldn’t tell if it’s a question or an order but she obeyed, opening the car door and hurrying to the back of the store.

* * *

 

She returned minutes later with a successful completed mission and sat next to him, sliding closer to him along the bench seats of the station wagon, breathing hard and heavily from the cold of February.

“I took it,” she said.

“And?”

“I haven’t looked at it yet. I couldn’t get the nerve. And it’s not ready yet, I don’t think.”

He looked at the clock on the dashboard. “How long do you need to wait?”

“Another two minutes, according to the box.”

He stared at the clock and groaned, hitting his head against the steering wheel repeatedly.

“Why do we have to wait so long?” he asked rhetorically, the frustration in his voice clear.

“Chemistry or whatever,” she replied curtly, her feet tapping on the floor of the car.

They watch the clock in silence and finally it’s 11:03 am.

“It’s time,” she said and somehow all the courage that she earned from taking down a lab and fighting monsters from another dimension dissipates and she feels her age for once. In that moment, she was a regular seventeen-year-old in her boyfriend’s car, waiting for pregnancy test results.

She pulled the test out and held it face down in her hand. Jonathan looked at her expectantly.

“I can’t do it,” she realized out loud.

He did the honors for her and reached out to turn the test over. Their hands brushed and the electricity felt fitting for the anxiety of the moment.

There was one blue line staring back at him. He looked up at Nancy for clarification.

“That’s a negative,” she breathed, laughing in relief despite herself. He smiled softly at her happiness. She laughed again and then turned to look at him and the smile melted off her face immediately.

“Oh, Jonathan,” she said, her voice taking a tone that she kept only for his name.

“I… I think I would have been happy,” he admitted softly, taking the test from where she dropped it on the seat in between them and turning it gently in his hand.

“Maybe I would be too, but that doesn’t change the fact that we’re seventeen and in no way fit to be parents,” she reasoned.

He felt a tug of disappointment in his heart and his trust issues raged to the surface. Why did his dad have to fuck him up this badly? Teenagers were supposed to be overjoyed and ecstatic at a negative pregnancy test, and here he was in the front seat of his car, tears prickling the back of his eyes.

It felt personal, that she didn’t want kids right now. It translated quickly into his head that she didn’t want kids with him. That maybe he didn’t fit into her cul-de-sac fantasies. Deep down he knew that this wasn’t true, that senior year of high school truly wasn’t a good time to become parents, but it somehow hurt, like a reminder that she doesn’t see a future with him. That she doesn’t think about their future like he does.

“Hey,” she said, tugging on the sleeve of his shirt until he looked at her, her eyes concerned. “You’re going to be a great dad someday.”

He blushed slightly and shrugged, rolling his eyes to try to dry them out as best he could.

“I’m serious,” she clarified. She ran her fingers up and down his forearm and he leaned into her touch despite himself, leaning into her comfort. “But I also think it’d be in your best interest to wait until you’re done with college.

“I know,” he laughed, his voice low with emotion. She looked at him curiously.

“And… and whoever the woman is, will be a very lucky one,” she said softly, meeting his eyes and then looking down at his lips and back up to meet his gaze again.

He grinned for real this time, thankful that Nancy Wheeler was understanding and that their shared trauma allowed them these moments, when each person knew what the other was thinking.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” he said. “The potential of parenthood… let’s just say that Bauman was right about trust issues.”

“I’m not going anywhere either, Jonathan,” she said sternly. He watched her every move, the way she shifted her weight and tucked her hair behind her ear and watched him too, searching his face for any display of emotion.

“I love you,” he said softly. “I’m sorry I’m such a fuck-up.”

“Normal is boring,” Nancy shrugged. “We were never going to be normal anyways.”

“I know,” he chuckled, turning the key into the ignition.

“I love you, too,” she added suddenly, blushing when he raised his eyebrows at her. “Obviously you know that but… yeah.”

He looked over at Nancy, perched in the front seat of his beat-up, rusted, old car and reminded himself to be thankful. His _girlfriend_ , who spent at least three nights a week under him and on top of him, who held his hand and helped him through nightmares, who played video games with their little brothers and helped El get ready for the Snow Ball.

“You ready to go home?” he asked with a smile, the melancholy and anxiety passing on and leaving him tired, ready to cuddle on the couch and watch a movie.

She nodded and kissed him soundly, the forgotten pregnancy test on the floor as they drove back towards Hawkins.

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually a little request - which I was so happy to fill. This is one of the best tropes out there, so great for plot advancement and character development. 
> 
> Anyways - I hope you enjoyed it! As always, leave a comment with your thoughts and any requests you have! xo


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